“Amongst the most compassionate and heartfelt examinations of the journey towards self-discovery and the road to improving one’s life that we’ve seen in recent years.”

Paul is an ordinary young man from French Canada – he spends his days pursuing his interests and generally lives quite a solitary, lonely life. Our first encounter with him consists of a voiceover in which he rattles off both his challenges with mental health, social anxiety and depression, and his physical ailments. However, he is far from miserable or bound by these obstacles since he engages in different forms of self-expression as a way to get by. He captures these on social media under the handle “Cleaning Simp Paul”, where he documents his attempts to lose weight and develop stronger social skills. This is primarily done through his chosen outlet, which is cleaning the houses of dominant women who fully take advantage of his gentle, submissive demeanor. His life is the subject of Paul, in which Denis Côté (one of the most singular voices in contemporary Canadian cinema) crafts a delicate and engaging documentary that follows the subject’s daily life, weaving together his personal observations made through his Instagram page with footage filmed during his frequent visits to the homes of his employers, who are more than willing to provide insights into this unconventional relationship. An intimate, personal account of one young man’s journey of self-realization, captured in vibrant detail by a filmmaker whose dedication to exploring Paul’s life has resulted in one of the year’s most effective works of non-fiction filmmaking.  

The aspects that drew Côté to this material are certainly clear, since he has made something of a career out of telling stories about people who live on or near the margins of society. Quietly poetic tales of social outcasts and misfits who are attempting to find a place in a world they simply cannot understand, or which doesn’t seem to understand them. Paul is built around observing the titular character as he goes about his day – on the surface, he seems to lead quite an ordinary life, but as we are given more access to his routine we start to see how it differs, particularly in his constant effort to improve himself both physically and mentally. We often come across films about individuals seeking out ways to improve their lives, usually looking for fast solutions – for Paul, his approach is simply to take it one day at a time. His hard work is captured both through accounts of his progress, and through the lens of Côté’s camera, which finds an abundance of potential in his story. The film is as forthright in its avoidance of delusion as the subject himself – it covers a relatively long span of time, and his transformation is seemingly minor, but his growth is extensive, especially in how he openly discusses his approach to looking at progress as a series of small changes rather than a drastic, radical shift.

A cursory glance would suggest that Paul was a film that intended to exploit the titular character’s experiences, operating as a voyeuristic glimpse into his life that we could observe from a distance. However, Côté is not at all interested in pandering with cheap, gaudy tricks to entertain the audience. If anything, this film is amongst the most compassionate and heartfelt examinations of the journey towards self-discovery and the road to improving one’s life that we’ve seen in recent years, and beneath the peculiar premise (which is presented objectively and without any unnecessary meandering) there is something quite touching. Much of this is formed from the approach taken by the director – Côté refuses to shape the narrative or insert his own voice but rather allows the subject to speak for himself, using his words to guide the story and therefore placing some degree of autonomy in his hands. The film is more descriptive than it is discursive and moves gently through Paul’s routine, combining his social media videos with bespoke moments captured by the director, creating a film that contains several different layers while documenting his fascinating and inspiring journey. The tone is oddly endearing and affectionate – Paul is a unique young man with a cheerful disposition and an inherent charisma that draws us in, and the candor with which he speaks about his life provides us with this intimate, personal portrait of his attempts to navigate the world on his own terms.

Paul is a clear example of a film that doesn’t entirely reveal itself from the outset, intentionally misleading the viewer into expecting a particular kind of conversation when in reality the inverse is more prominent. This is neither an attempt to mock the subject and use him as a cautionary tale about the dangers of living a lonely life, nor is it some overwrought lecture about the importance of making changes to your life in order to feel some sense of happiness. Instead, it exists as a poignant, charming documentary that offers astute and fascinating observations into this young man’s life, following his ordinary routine and giving us the opportunity to view the world through his eyes as he engages on this journey of self-improvement. He may exist outside the status quo and certainly seems to be navigating an increasingly hostile world on his own, but his dedication to making vital changes, and doing so not for the sake of social acceptance but rather for his own happiness, is inspiring and compelling. The process of developing and becoming a better version of oneself is daunting and lengthy, and the results may not always be evident (and there are even moments where it appears as if he is going backwards), but as we see in the daily walks that he continues to document on social media, it is all about taking one step at a time and embracing the challenges that come about in the process.

Image copyright: Coop Vidéo de Montréal